SCHC 457 H0A 26476

EngLit, HistoryCiv, Humanities, AIU

Notes:

In this course, we will read literature by British, French, Caribbean, Russian, and American writers who explored the subject of contagious disease in their novels, short stories, essays, and narrative poems. As we make our way from the eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, we will consider how developments in the history of medicine gave rise to innovative forms of narrative, and conversely, how stories and folklore inspired new treatments, cures, and models for understanding the spread of communicable diseases. Along the way, we will consider how our understanding of contagious disease detaches us from the writers we study and makes it difficult to understand the world as they saw it, but we will also search for vital points of connection—including live pathogens—that link past and present. Readings will include major works by Daniel Defoe, Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Seacole, Katherine Anne Porter, and Albert Camus, and shorter works by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Nathanial Hawthorne, Charlotte Brontë, Guy de Maupassant, Henry James, Anton Chekhov, and others.